Milano

Milan

Duomo

The main sights in the city are the Duomo, a huge gothic Cathedral, and the old castle which is now home to multiple museums. Also in Milan we found the expensive desiner shops, but dared only to window shop. Using Milan as a base we took two day trips.

The Castle

The Posh Shopping

The first to Verona to see the Balcony of Juliet, and the gladitorial arena. Verona is the epitomy of Italian towns, lots of classic buildings and even more restuarants and ice cream parlours. In Verona we where asked if we were from Newcastle, by an English woman.

Juliet's Balcony

The second trip was to Venice. I was surprisingly disapointed by Venice, don't get me wrong its an impressive city and im glad I can say I have been, however it felt like disney land. Lots of tacky shops, bad souvenirs, and extortionate prices. Plus you where really hard pressed to hear an italian accent, instead it was all sorts of brummy! The canals and gondelas, combined with some amazing architecture made for great viewing when we managed to lose ourselves in the maze of streets and we where away from the madding crowd!




 

Rialto Bridge

Germany part 2 + Switzerland

Munich

We entered back into Germany from Prague, heading for Munich. In Munich we again ventured out on our ever favourite, free walking tour, our guide this time was a German/Norwegian/American girl who spoke with a lot of passion about both Munich and its history. Munich played a huge role in modern German history, being the venue for numerous attempts to overthrow the powers that be.Whilst in Munich we drank in numerous brauhaus' including drinking a touristy litre or Edel Stoff (reportedly Gods favourite beer).

From Munich we took a day trip to Dachau, a memorial to the concentration camp that was once situated in the town. The grounds of the camp where huge with the remains of two of the dormitories, where once there was 32! Also on the site are two crematoriums, the old and new one, the new being 70 years old. The site now houses mulitple memorials to the different nationalites and religions held in the camp. Also at the camp you can visit the building that was once the prison, many of the cells still have the toilet still intact.

Stuttgart and Basel.

Stuttgart was in the process of celebrating the 125 year aniversary of Mercedes, so there where multiple stages set up with cars through the ages placed upon them, including one of their F1 cars. It also gave a sneeky peak of some of their future developments, including the opportunity to drive one of their electric cars. Stuttgart as a city offered a few museums, and some nice period buildings but had no real character to draw or keep your attention.

Basel, just inside the swiss border, has potential to be a great city, with only one thing holding it back: the extortionate costs! For example £3 for a can of beer in a supermarket and bar prices ranged between £6 and £10 a pint!! We followed a walking tour map around Basel and saw most of the main sights including the River, the town hall, and cathedral in which you can see through into some of the recently excavted crypts! When the weather is good you will see people in the fast flowing river using inflatable bags for bouyoncy.

Praha

Prague

A train took us from Frankfurt to Nuremberg before a coach made the border crossing and deposited us in Prague. First impressions of Prague where a little shady; an improvised methodone clinic set up outside the train station left us a little wary, but upon taking the tram to our hostel, the fears where set aside. The hostel, located near to two Hiltons, a Marriot, and numerous other upmarket hotels, was in a nice part of the city only 5 minutes walk from the main square, and a multitude of sights.


The old town square itself has a large history and contains some impressive buildings, churches, and monuments. We took our usual free walking tour of the city, on which and the guide was fantastic, very informative and knowledgable. The history of Prague and the Czech republic is something to behold in itself, without even cosidering its wealth of architecture and culture. It is a a place whose identity has only become its own within the last 20 years,and its not surprising that the natives are reluctant to enter the euro, given that it would be its 9th currency in the last 90 years!

So what have we actually seen in Prague? The Old town square home to the worlds only astronomical clock, a statue of Huss, and Mary of the Tyn Church. Then there is the Charles Bridge, named after one of Pragues most important Kings; a wide foot bridge linking the Old Town to the Prague Castle, it's highly ornametal with lots of folks laws about each statue. The castle itself is like a town within the city, where previous Kings have added and added to it so now the castle is an array of buildings from multiple time frames. Prague also houses the only remaining concert hall in the world where Motzart conducted a concert. Finally Wenceslas square (named after 'good King Wenceslas' who was infact a prince), although more of a rectangle, this square has had many an important event happen like Jan Polaks, a young student, setting himself alight to voice his concerns prior to communism in Czechoslovakia. It is also the square in which the uprising occured leading to the fall of communism in Czech in 1989, it is said that this was the real end of world war 2 here! Another icon in the square is the national gallery that was used as the casino in casino royale. Apparently Prague has been the set for many a movie. On a somewhat ironic note the communism museum here in prague is housed between the anti-communsim that is a casino, and you guessed it, McDonalds!

Astronomical clock

Charles Bridge

Wenceslas Square

The Mozart Theatre

Germany Part 1

Germany Part 1

After leaving Bruges we caught a train to Cologne, via Brussels. Without any real must do sights in Cologne, we wandered aimlessly for the duration of our visit, catching glimpses of some glorious buildings, both old and new, and getting lost in streets of nothingness. This isn't to say there was nothing there to enjoy. A visit into the grand cathedral, a huge structure that amazingly avoided any large scale damage in the war when all around it fell. Trialing of the local brew Kolsch, and eating the ever famous bratwurst where features amongst the aimlessness. Also seeing a Top Gear style floating car, and some setups for a beach volleyball competition.

Cologne Cathedral

From Cologne we travelled the relatively short 3 hour train to Frankfurt. Not really knowing what to expect from the City we headed out to explore. Finding the integration of old and new town where a mish mash of glass fronted and old stone buildings stand side by side. Frankfurt is the second largest banking district in Europe behind and London, and the largest transport hub in Germany. There is a big city feel without the volume of people. Our main finds in the city where an italian market(free samples of all sorts of salamis and cheeses), a nice river side stroll, and generally enjoying the first few days of sun we have had since being away. Frankfurt appears to have a love for all things streetside; food, beer, and even watching the football!

Belgium

Belgium

After a really early start to catch the Eurostar, we headed to Belgium. More specifically Bruges. Here we spent three days exploring the landmarks of Bruges, and partaking in a walking tour with an over excitable American guide. He gave us a basic overview and some history of the town and pointed out some good eateries and things to do for free!

Brugge Zot

So after the tour we headed off on our own and visited the Brugge Zot brewery tour, including a free beer and you can go onto the roof for some scenes of Bruges. We also saw some real working windmills, lots of canals, and even more chocolatiers.

Windmills

Canals

Belgian waffles are the mutts!

One of the main sights we went to was the church of the holy blood, a church with a vessel containing the blood of Christ.

The Blood Church

Our personal favourite place to visit was "De Garre". A pub on the smallest road in Bruges, offering 130 differnt beers, of which we tried 12. This Included the house special brew; a 12% beer named after the bar, and each customer is limited to three 330ml glasses. I might add that the drinks sampled where over a number of nights!